French police officer killed in shoot-out

A French police officer has been killed in an exchange of fire with assailants east of Paris.

A police official said she had no information suggesting the assailants were members of the Basque separatist group ETA, as was reported by Spanish media.

The circumstances of the shooting death yesterday of the 53-year-old officer in the Paris suburb of Dammarie-les-Lys were still unclear.

One person was arrested and is being questioned, and police were searching for at least one other person, the police official said.

It was not immediately clear how the assailants and police came into contact.